Running Free - Member News
September 2025

A Return to Erie!

We are looking forward to the crisp autumn air and the opportunity to see friends this weekend in Erie, PA. 

If you haven't yet registered, there is still time! The muster will be on Saturday, October 4th, and will be a full day of discussion, networking, and socializing. Community musters are open to both members and non-members.

Thank you to our host partners for providing the space and support for these gatherings. Thank you to Allen Insurance and Financial for sponsoring our lunches for all five musters! Additional support provided by Sea Cloud Cruises, FD Yachts and Classic Harbor Line. 

You can register and view the agenda through the link. 

Gulf Coast Freedom Seekers Story Expands at Galveston Historic Seaport

Galveston Bay and its tributaries were central to maritime freedom-seeking escapes from 1816 to 1865. The bay connected enslaved people in southeast Texas to opportunities for liberation in Mexico and beyond. Galveston Historical Foundation‘s (GHF) Galveston Historic Seaport now serves as a focal point in telling this story with the recent addition of the Freedom Seeker story to the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network and a new addition to its acclaimed Galveston Immigration Experience, Ship To Shore, exhibit.

Galveston’s Maritime Underground Railroad in Galveston, Texas, is among 31 new listings added by the National Park Service to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.  The latest listings join more than 800 sites, facilities, and programs already in the network, which provide insight into the diverse experiences of freedom seekers who bravely escaped slavery and the allies who assisted them.

Tall Ships Visit Chestertown

Join AJ Meerwald, Godspeed, Kalmar Nyckel, Lady Maryland, Lynx, Maryland Dove, Pride of Baltimore II, Sigsbee, and Sultana for the annual Downrigging Tall Ship Sail and Mustic Festival Weekend in Chestertown, MD. Tickets are on sail for the parade of sail and day sails throughout the weekend. Live bluegrass music all weekend, along with food and drinks. 

Call for Speakers 

You can submit a session for the virtual Crew Resource Day (1 week prior to the in-person conference) or the in-person conference in California.

The Conference will be organized around five main topic areas, all relating to the theme of Traditional Sails, Modern Winds:

• Crew Training and Development
• Ship’s Operations & Safety
• Educational Programming and Marine Science (Ocean Literacy, Environmental initiative partnerships and conservation)
• Tall Ships Events and Port/Festival Organizers
• Administration/Organizational Sustainability

We invite you to share your knowledge and experience in one of these five areas with Tall Ships America members. And if you have an idea to share and highlight that is beyond the scope of these topics, please submit!

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